How Archiving Shields Data from Cyber Security Vulnerabilities

Cybercrime costs the world $6 trillion as per 2022 estimates. That’s more money than the GDP of a few countries.

Organizations must step up cybersecurity measures to protect their business-critical data, which could be critical to their survival. 

43% of all cyber-attacks target small businesses, and even a single attack can cause have devastating effects.

According to Microsoft, 60% of cyber-attacks begin with a breached device. In addition, 70 percent of small firms go out of business within a year of a large data loss incident, which can be caused by viruses, physical damage, or human error.

A physically separate, secure archive/copy of your business-critical data is your best line of defense against cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

In the following, there’s information on the importance of cyber security, data archiving in cyber security, and how it can help. 

What is Vulnerability in Cyber Security?

Cyber security is a blanket term used to describe the practices, processes, controls, programs, and tools used to protect your IT assets and tools. 

Vulnerability meaning in cyber security, can be defined as gaps, loose ends, and liabilities in your IT infrastructure that can serve as entry points for attack vectors. You can also read these as “chinks in the armor.”

In an increasingly digitized world, as more data goes online, cybercriminals have more opportunities to try and exploit vulnerabilities in your cyber security to their advantage.

Cyber-attacks are ever-evolving in sophistication and volume, and hence it’s an ongoing challenge to maintain a robust cyber security system for your valuable data.

Different Types of Vulnerabilities in Cyber Security

As the threats evolve, so should cyber security measures.

Your organization can fall prey to many different types of vulnerabilities in cyber security, which can lead to system hijacks and data breaches. Some sources of these vulnerabilities are: 

• Unpatched or Outdated Software.
• System Misconfiguration.
• Malicious Threats by Insider.
• Missing, Improper, or Weak Authentication credentials.
• Incomplete Authorisation policies.
• Zero-day Vulnerabilities.
• Missing or poor Data Encryption.

What is the Importance of Data Protection in Cyber Security?

Cyber security employs many methods, processes, tools, software, and other protective measures to protect your systems and your most valuable asset – your data. 

Robust Data Protection is a foundational line of defense against data theft, damage, and loss among these measures.

An independent, safe, tamper-proof repository of all your data insulates you against the impact of any cyber-attack.

And data protection contributes positively to business continuity, organization growth, and risk mitigation.

Telling customers about how you keep their critical data safe can build trust and reputation.

What role does Email Archiving play in Cyber Security?

Email being the primary form of digital communication and data exchange in an organization, is one of the main targets of cybercriminals.

IDC says that business emails carry 60% of business-critical data. These could be confidential information, trade secrets, company finances, product details, and many other types of confidential information.

Cybercriminals send Phishing Emails, Trojan Horses, Malware, Viruses, and Worms through emails. These phishing emails attempt to attack, steal and destroy your data and cause your organization irreparable damage.

However, cyber security has a solution – email archiving. 

Email archival storage in cyber security is a vital aspect of a robust security architecture.

Having a central, consolidated cloud repository carrying a physically separate copy of all your active and legacy email is one of the best ways to safeguard the data.

Related: Why Archive email

How Email Archiving Shields Data from Cyber Security Vulnerabilities

Archiving might sound similar to backup, but it is not. A fundamental difference is that email archiving captures data continuously, as it is generated and not after the fact, whereas a backup is periodic. This difference ensures that archiving captures and preserves ALL your data, irrespective of your users’ actions in their mailboxes.

Related: Difference between Email Archive and Backup

Other notable benefits of cloud-based email archiving:

Records Metadata

When, where, how, and by whom, archiving records metadata, making it a lot more valuable and important. You also have the freedom to decide how detailed you can be with your metadata. 

Legal and Compliance readiness

Regulated industries, like healthcare and financial services, must have email and data archiving practices in place. A robust, search-ready email archive can support fast and accurate ediscovery of evidence to support legal and compliance readiness.

Excellent Email Management System

Archiving with self-service access can double up as an email storage management system. Your older emails are removed from the active mailboxes and available in safe archives via a self-service ediscovery application.

Role-based access for additional security

Amongst the top cyber security vulnerabilities is the human aspect. Not every employee needs access to archived data. Organizations must create a hierarchy granting a varied level of access to certain members in the organization. These could be auditors, compliance officers, or members of the legal teams.

Cyber Resilience

Data breaches can result in downtime, which can be very disruptive. Minimizing the visible surface area of data by receding infrequently used critical data to cold stores is a vital aspect of building cyber resilience. Leveraging cloud tools that support storage tiering with robust discovery tools can support your cybersecurity strategy without compromise.

Related: 5 Effective Data Management Strategies: A Guide to Selecting Email Backup, Archiving, or Journaling For your Enterprise

Email Archiving Solutions Must Be Secure

The email and data archiving solution you choose for your organization must be secure. It should encrypt all your data files and protect them from external attacks. The storage location should also be secure yet easy to access for you. The email archiving solution should also protect from internal threats by restricting access, monitoring access requests, and using unauthorized tools and software. 

Vaultastic is a next-generation platform that protects your business-critical in the cloud using storage tiering and a multi-layered shared security model at 60% lower costs. Vaultastic is cloud-native on AWS, highly scalable, and seamlessly integrates with all major email service providers.

Final Thoughts 

Is cyber security important? Yes. Irrespective of your organization’s size, you have to invest in cyber security. But even that may not be enough. Even the most technically advanced cyber security systems can develop chinks over time. Maintaining a physically separate copy of your data using a cloud email archiving platform is one of the best defenses against relentless cyberattacks. It ensures business continuity and reduces data risk even in a compromise on the primary system.

Why not give Vaultastic a spin? Sign up for a no-obligation 30 day free trial and experience new-age data protection.